Tuesday, March 28, 2017

I have not written here in awhile. There have been some sad changes in my sponsorships.

First, after a year or more negotiating with the Indian government, the government went ahead with its plans to oust all GMOs working with children. So despite its assurances that no child was forced to become Christian to benefit from the program, it was ousted with the rest and there are more than 1,000 grieving sponsors for having lost their children.

Anjali was the first child I sponsored, when she was a small child. She has grown into a lovely 13 year old and I was looking forward to continue to follow her to adulthood and graduation from the program. Now all contact with her has been cut off.

In addition Venkanna, whom I did not sponsor, but was writing to, has also left the program because of the India ruling. He was also a good writer and drew me lovely photos. I will miss him as well.

While dealing with the loss of Anjali and Venkanna, I also received word that Brayan, our sponsored child in Honduras, had left the program for reasons they don't really understand. He just has not attended the program for two months and they finally had to drop him.

I chose Brayan because i had read a book called "Enrique's Journey," which told in great detail about the problems of children in Honduras and what they go through trying to get out of that country to some place save (hence they become illegal aliens here). The Enrique of the book left Honduras, looking for his mother, who had left the family years before trying to find a way to help the family back in Honduras financially.

I felt guilty at the end of the book and knew I could not make any difference in Honduras, but knew I could make a difference in the life of one child. So we sponsored Brayan, who was just a wonderful kid who wrote long, descriptive letters that I will miss terribly.